Legislation

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Late Friday afternoon a massive education bill was introduced through the budget process. This bill was negotiated behind closed doors, bypassing the democratic process of public input and the option for amendments. While testing reform, daily recess, and other good education policies have been placed inside this bill, it has a devastating impact on the education budget that will leave our most vulnerable children behind. Now is the time to act! Please CALL today and tell your Senator to vote NO on Conforming Bill 7069. Our children are worth more than this. Click the link below to log in and send your message:

Take Action Now! The power of the PTA lies within our members and we need your help! For the next 9 days the Florida Legislature will be making key decisions regarding education funding, testing and accountability, local control of local schools, and recess. Many of these decisions affecting our children and our schools will be made in conference committee meetings held behind closed doors. NOW is the time to let our legislators know where we stand, before the doors shut and policy is made out of the public eye. Please email or call your Legislator TODAY and urge them

Here is an email from Superintendent Nikolai Vitti to the Florida House. You can use some of these points when you contact your legislators. Here is the link to Contact Your Legislators ———- Original Message ———- From: “Vitti, Nikolai P.” <vittin@duvalschools.org> To: “Vitti, Nikolai P.” <vittin@duvalschools.org> Date: April 17, 2017 at 1:49 AM Subject: Reject HB 5105 April 17, 2017 Florida State Senators, I implore you to not accept House Bill (HB) 5105 during budget conference negotiations. The bill seemingly attempts to address the authentic need to improve educational outcomes in schools serving students facing higher concentration of poverty but

Please contact you state legislators on the Schools of Hope bill this week. This email gives you important talking points . From: “Kathleen, Fund Education Now” <info@fundeducationnow.org> Date: April 25, 2017 at 12:25:44 AM EDT To: Rebecca Couch <beckicouchdistrict6@gmail.com> Subject: Urge House & Senate to oppose “Schools of Hope/High Impact Charter Networks” l Reply-To: info@fundeducationnow.org Fund Education Now! Urge the House & Senate to oppose any bill containing “Schools of Hope/HIgh Impact Charters” language This dangerous concept has worked its way into at least a dozen bills, making it intentionally harder to track. All of this activity feeds the goal

TAKE ACTION ALERT: Recess Bill SB78/HB67 The Senate recess bill SB78 passed unanimously on the Senate floor on April 4th and has been sent over to the House in messages. Please urge your Representative to contact Speaker Richard Corcoran TODAY and ask that he pull SB78 out of messages and send it to the House floor with no changes or amendments. SB78 offers 20 minutes of daily unstructured play for K-5 elementary students. Unlike the House version HB67, the Senate bill calls for true recess separate from PE and includes all elementary students not just k-3 students. Click the link

Please review the attached correspondence and contact senator Aaron Bean at https://www.flsenate.gov/Senators/S4 ———- Original Message ———- From: “Couch, Rebecca A.” <couchr@duvalschools.org> To: “president@dccpta.org” <president@dccpta.org>, “Zinamon, Sabrina D.” <zinamons@duvalschools.org> Date: April 15, 2017 at 9:57 AM Subject: Urgent! Fwd: Article of Interest: Breaking down the House ‘schools of hope’ bill FYI. Three middle schools, Northwestern, Ribault Middle, and Matthew Gilbert, would be shut down according to this bill if they do not get a C this year. There are several other schools that would potentially be impacted the following year if they make a D or an F. Essentially, if a

TAKE ACTION ALERT: Senate Bill 376 (CHARTER SCHOOL FUNDING) Today, April 12, SB 376 (Charter School Funding) will be heard on the Senate floor, with a final vote likely to take place on Thursday. This bill would require school districts to share locally-raised capital outlay tax revenues with charter schools, and would thus decrease the funding traditional public schools rely upon for school construction and repair, as well as large purchases such as school buses. Florida PTA’s position statement on charter school speaks directly to this issue: “Charter schools must not deplete funding from existing public schools.” Accordingly, we oppose

The following is an email response from Superintendent Nikolai Vitti referring to the DCCPTA Board Meeting held 4/6/17. Dr. Vitti’s comments. I understand that you had several questions at your board meeting this morning and I wanted to provide you with the information requested. As you know, the legislative information is time-sensitive, as some of these bills move through the process rather quickly. Thank you for your continued advocacy. Capital Outlay Funding (HB5103 and SB376) – OPPOSE o Below is the slide requested at the meeting that explains the manner in which the funding can be allocated. Right now one

Posted April 4, 2017 | 08:40 pm | Updated 09:45 pm | By Denise Smith Amos Duval schools might have to close and give away three middle schools to a charter school operator next school year if a bill moving fast in Florida’s House gets approved, district leaders said Tuesday during a School Board meeting. The district also could lose tens of millions more dollars each year to charter schools if other proposed changes are approved that would change the way capital dollars are awarded. Capital outlay dollars, which are raised locally and from the state, pay for school buildings,